00:00 Was that old school saying food so good make one slap your mama? Yeah.

00:10 Yeah. I wouldn’t recommend it, but—

00:12 But yeah, it’s that good. It’s that good. Oh man, that’s great. Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Next, it’s your host, Justin Scott. Let’s get to the show. All right, welcome back to the Six-Figure Trucker. I have with me today, Jermaine Dudley. I’m excited to continue this with season 2. Germaine, how you doing today, man?

00:49 Man, I’m doing well, man. How you doing—

00:51 Man? I’m doing good. I’m doing good. I’m excited to have you on the show. Excited that you want to be a part of the Six-Figure Trucker. You know, we had a good season 1. We’re kicking off season two. Got a lot of good guests, a lot of new folks to be on the show. So, excited to hear some new information and hear what’s going on out there in the trucking and the driveaway world. But let’s start it off, man. You’re with Norton. How’d you get started with us, man?

01:14 I worked on the company side for Active USA delivering the Peterbilt and the Camp Works.

01:20 Yeah. Yeah. I started that in 2012. Did that until 2019 and I had a friend that come over here and pretty much told me about y’all. So after probably about a year of me and him talking about it, I decided to it was time for a change.

01:38 Yeah.

01:38 Time to come on to the contract side.

01:40 Who’s the friend? Do you mind saying?

01:42 We call him Mo.

01:44 Oh, I know Mo.

01:45 Okay.

01:46 I That’s my dude. That’s my dude.

01:48 Yeah. Yeah.

01:49 Okay. Yeah. He’s awesome. Oh, that’s cool, man. So, that’s— He’s a friend of you.

01:54 Yeah, we me and him both worked at Active.

01:57 Okay. Okay.

01:57 For years until he went and left and did something else and then came back into the driveaway game with you all.

02:05 All right. Well, yeah, man. That that’s my dude, man. I talked to him probably at least once a week and he’s a freaking runner, that guy. He’s awesome. Well, cool. So, you know, you might be I think you are the first guest that we’ve had from the company side. Driveaway and then transition into the contracting side, I guess. Man, hit me with the pros and the cons. What do you like better? What do you not like? Let’s talk about that. We haven’t had this conversation yet. I like it.

02:31 Well, what I like first and foremost about the contract side is the fact that you have the freedom to work when you want to. Yeah.

02:39 You know, if you don’t feel like working that week—

02:42 Or a couple of weeks, you know, you have that freedom. You know, Norton is very flexible when it comes to accepting loads. You know, they have their principle. As long as you take one load in a 30-day period, you’re good. So, I definitely enjoy that. You know, being in trucking for 15 years plus, man. You know, you spend so much time away from your family.

03:06 Yeah. Yeah. That’s tough.

03:07 And Yeah. You know, and I’ve been with companies where I’ve had to stay out two weeks at a time. I’ve been with companies where I got stuck out there almost a month at a time and it gets frustrating and a lot of wear and tear on your family life. So, you know, that that’s like my biggest pros for me, should I say, is the fact that I have the freedom to work when I want to work. Freedom to choose loads that that’s on the board that where I want to go.

03:35 Yeah.

03:36 You know, and of course the money is there, you know. Long as you work, you gonna get paid. That’s the next thing I like. As long as you once you deliver that load within 24 hours, your money is hitting that account.

03:50 Yeah. You’re getting paid for the work you did and quick.

03:52 You don’t have to wait, which is of course, you know, good for bills and—

03:56 Absolutely—

03:56 The wife. Abs.

03:58 Absolutely. That’s one thing that, you know, that I hear on repeat a lot is, you know, the flexibility. A lot of folks that that have been driving for freight and company employees, no matter what type of truck company it is, is there’s not a lot of flexibility out there. And the model that that we have is it works for us because we can have—

04:22 A lot of drivers and we can have the flexibility for them to choose when they want to work because they are independent contractors. And it works for both sides. And you know, for us, it’s been a successful model. You know, I like hearing that that that guys enjoy that. You know, they I mean, cuz you know, home life is important. And, you know, being a truck driver, you know, there’s a lot of pros, there’s a lot of cons, too. You know, you know, you make good money, but—

04:48 You know, what is that like, you know, on a family when you’re not able to be there, you know, every night? It’s tough. You know, it’s tough.

04:55 Well, cool, man. Well, that’s great to hear. I love that. And you know, you’re I might have failed to mention when we first started talking here is that you’re a deck driver for us. You undeck. And so when we talk about that with some of the folks that are in driveaway, especially the new folks that are in the driveaway, their question is is how do I get to be a deck driver? What makes people want to be a deck driver? Obviously, the money’s better. We know that. But outside of that, you know, how do I get to be a deck driver? How do people get into undecking? And what’s that workload like? You know, how I mean, you know, you’re not just driving a truck and dropping a truck off. You’ve got to undeck it. You’ve got to put manual labor in into what you’re doing and it’s dangerous. So, how what was that like for you and how did you get started in that space?

05:39 Well, as you know, the truck market, it’s a revolving door.

05:43 Yeah.

05:44 And in the trucking industry, you know, you don’t like a company, you go to another one. And living in that North Texas area, you know, you when you work for work with so many companies, you get tired. So I was looking for something different and I just so happened one day to come across actor’s information and of course you know put in for it and you know interviewed and when they told me the gist of the whole game of the undecking I was like oh wow you want me to get under this piece of equipment that’s suspended the you know worked around this piece of equipment that’s suspended. I don’t know about that.

06:31 Yeah.

06:32 You know, but after getting into it, I will say it gets tedious.

06:37 It gets very tedious. It gets very—

06:39 Very tiresome, you know, especially when you know, if you do a short run where you got the opportunity and the time to after you drove five, six00 miles to undeck, you know, the same day.

06:52 Yeah. You know, it gets very tedious.

06:55 Yeah. It’s not like you’re 100% tip top here. You know, you’ve been driving. You know, your body don’t necessarily feel like getting out there and going through that punishment—

07:04 Doing it a few times. My body got used to it. Body, you know, your body get used to doing all of that work in your mind because you got to have a good you have to have a correct mindset about it. First of all, you can’t get in the mind of first of all trying to hurry. I’ve seen a lot of guys get hurt in doing this because they missteps or they’re in a rush. You got in this you have to have a mindset of taking your time and checking over, you know, undecking your truck several times—

07:35 Right—

07:35 Before you—

07:37 Make the next step because that next step could possibly mean your life or even tearing up a truck.

07:44 That’s absolutely true. And I’m so glad you say that because that’s good for people to hear, you know, as they’re listening to this podcast and they’re thinking about, you know, I’m in driveaway. Maybe I want to get into the undecking world. And we want them to, but we also want to make sure that the folks that understand that, you know, there’s a reason why the pay is higher. It’s not just about moving more trucks at a time. It’s there’s dangers. There’s a lot of dangers that go into it. And, you know, there’s more than just being a good truck driver.

08:12 Definitely. I tell a lot of guys that that you know I run across I’ve even trained a few that your first thing to do is to assess your situation, assess, you know, where you at. Assess your undecking area, the hoist you got because there are certain specifications that that the customer has to keep the hoist and the hoist area. So if it’s deemed and looks unsafe, open your mouth. I understand that, you know, we deal with these customers and sometimes some of the companies be like, “Well, you got to use what’s out here, you know, and I tell people straight up, your life means more than anything else.”

08:54 Absolutely.

08:55 You know, you got to remember, you know, hey, the goal is to make money and go on the way you can spend that money.

09:02 Yeah. If you can’t go home, all this was for nothing.

09:06 You see what I’m saying?

09:07 Absolutely. Absolutely. You know doing this undecking. Yes, it’s tedious. Yes, it’s tiresome. Yes. And even at times it seems unsafe. Unsafe really. I mean, I’m just going to be honest, you know, it really I think it’s unsafe, period.

09:24 But as long as you take the necessary precautions as the person that’s driving and decking, you’ll be successful. I’ve been in this, like I said, since 2012, almost 10 years. And I thank God because I’ve never gotten hurt while trying to undeck one of these trucks because my mindset is I don’t get in a rush. I don’t try to rush through it. I don’t care what my deadline is. I always before I even accept the load, I always make sure, hey, I don’t have nothing going on to where I can get that load from point A to point B, get it there in a reasonable amount of time and safely and not having to have my mind, you know, already going because I got other issues going on in my life.

10:16 Yeah. You’re going to rush through it and you’re going to cut corners. And when you cut corners that that leads to bad things.

10:24 Yep. So getting it getting into undecking, man. And then of course, like I said, moving over to this side, I actually have been a lot more calm.

10:35 Okay. And because when you’re working on the company side, you’re working under a lot of different restraints because you really don’t have any freedom to or really any voice, should I say, because of you’re a company employee. The companies don’t care. The only thing they want you to do is get out here and deliver these trucks and get back and get another one.

10:58 Yeah, that’s right. You know—

11:00 Wherever it’s going, they’re g they’re gonna pick, right?

11:03 Yeah. You know and you know on this side over here you know like I said you got the freedom to you know hey I want to go here you know I want to go there and you know I want to take my time but I want to take a couple of days—

11:16 You have that freedom to take all the time you need you know of course you know you can’t take too much time or if it’s hill of time—

11:26 Right there’s a balance—

11:27 So yeah you know but you can you don’t have to rush to where you feel like you are being laid to hurt and come back. Body tired, worn out. You don’t have to deal with that. And getting into the undecking game, I love it. I ain’t going to lie to you. I love it. My hardest thing sometimes is dealing with some of these customers that don’t care.

11:48 Yeah, that’s tough. You know—

11:49 You know, cuz you know, I’ve spoken to a few of the different customers and they’ve told me straight up to my face, “Look, you to us, you just another person bringing us a truck. Give me my trucks and go away.”

12:03 Yeah. And that’s another reason why we’re doing this show because you know there’s good and there’s bad anywhere you go. But I want some of our customers to listen. Man, these guys, you know, what you go through, what you have to do. And you know, it’s a lot. And some of these people, they don’t understand. And—

12:21 Even some of the mechanics, you know, the mechanics that know about these trucks, they’ve never undecked a truck. So, you know—

12:27 One of our biggest pet peeves, our biggest issue in this undecking is going to these customers with these chain hoist. And when you and if it look like it is unsafe, you say something to them. Well, well, the last person they came, they used it, so I don’t know what to tell you.

12:50 Well, hold on.

12:52 Yeah. You go out there and undeck that truck then.

12:56 If I’m telling you it’s unsafe, now that’s one thing to say it and really just trying to get over because you don’t want to use it—

13:03 Right?

13:04 But it’s another thing when it’s really unsafe for whatever the case is and you not taking in the fact of my life.

13:14 Yeah.

13:15 My health—

13:16 And what kind of hoist it is too. You know, you know what kind of trucks you have. Is it does it support the tonnage of, you know, the amount of weight of the type of truck that you have and it’s not always the case. You know, maybe that last guy did undeck and it worked, but maybe his trucks were a lot lighter. You know, who I who knows?

13:33 No, it’s funny because I’ve been to and it not just single out the companies with the chain hoist. I’ve been to companies where they’ve had a electric hoist, but the frame of the hoist was tolerant.

13:52 It wasn’t secure. That ain’t good.

13:54 Secure to the ground. So you like I’m glad you got an electric hoist, but this thing is shaking out here. I don’t—

14:02 If the wind blows and it moves, that ain’t good.

14:04 Thank you. You know, I don’t feel safe with working with this. And you got to know your limits and your boundaries. You got to know what you can do and what you can’t do so you can go home to your family or go home and enjoy your life or your money that you just made. Because the last thing I’m quite sure any company wants to do is have to tell your loved ones, hey, we lost your loved one today because they were out here working.

14:36 Yeah. Thank God I’ve never had to make that call and I you know that’s—

14:41 No you know that’s no call anybody wants to make and no position—

14:45 You want any family to be in and so you know that advice is so you know—

14:49 So good is to assess the situation and you said that a couple times and I think that’s important because you know what you’ve got to do and you go through the steps in your head but you know does the place that you’re at support those steps that you’ve got to do—

15:04 And I think that’s important— And tell me about this too. This is something that I’m always interested in talking about is, you know, especially with you’ve been doing it so long, you’ve seen a lot of different things. You know, when you look at people that are wanting to get into the undecking space and maybe they’ve seen trucks decked and maybe they’ve seen a lot of trucks decked, who knows? But sometimes people don’t understand that different trucks are decked different ways. You know, there’s obviously there’s your saddle mount, there’s your frame saddle mount, your pin saddle mount, you’ve got your Z bars, you’ve got different kind of Z bars, you’ve got saddle mount that have four-wheel drive brackets there that is a different way. So, you know, tell us about that. You know, how do you know, it’s not just knowing how to undeck and you can undeck every truck. Every company has different trucks and every company can do it a little bit in a different way. How did you learn to navigate through all that? The great thing about me, like I said, since I’ve been doing this so long, I had I’ve had the chance and opportunity to work in the shop. Before I came over here, like I said, when I started with active because it was a union, you get the opportunity to choose depending on what your seniority number is, whether you want to be on the road for 6 months or you want to work in the shop decking the trucks up for six months.

16:16 Right?

16:17 So, my last few years over there with them, I worked in the shop. I was able to be at home every day and I actually was the saddle man.

16:28 I’m the one— Yeah. I’m the one who made sure and chose the different saddles for the different tracks.

16:34 So now that’s great. I mean, so you’re not— So you’ve got an advantage. You did.

16:41 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So again, I said I’ve been doing it for a long time, man. But then in choosing the different sounds, like you said, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. You have to know the type of trucks that you are trying to deck up and you’re trying to undeck. You got to know first of all the where a truck will not be overweight at when you put another truck on the back.

17:04 Yeah.

17:05 You got to know when to put it in the fifth wheel, when to put it on the frame. You got to know what type of saddle because you have a regular combo saddle and then you have another saddle where it sits higher because you need clearance. Yeah.

17:22 Then of course you still always got to make sure you remember that you got to, you know, think about the height. We can’t we ain’t supposed to be no more than 136 out here—

17:29 Right?

17:29 So when it comes to the different types of saddles and the different type of equipment to use. First of all, that stuff is going to come with time. That that’s the first and foremost. It’s going to come with time of getting to know what you do. Again, I’m one I’m real big in learning my craft before I really try to get into it. At least learn it enough to where I can safely do what I got to do. I’m a pastor as well.

18:03 Oh, okay.

18:04 I, you know, pretty much, you know, I’m very cautious in everything that I do.

18:09 Exactly. You know, again, you know, I’ve had to, you know, be there to console families, you know, when they’ve lost loved ones for different reasons. So, you know, I learned myself firsthand. Take your time. Realize what you got going on and what you doing with this out here is it’s a life or death situation because it’s you know they tell us over on this side make sure you pre-trip your truck because you don’t know the mindset of the person that decked this truck up.

18:42 That’s true.

18:44 You don’t know whether they rushed or whether they used the wrong equipment.

18:50 Was it almost lunchtime? You know—

18:53 Yeah. Or was it almost quitting time? Quinton time. Yeah.

18:56 Yeah. You know, and so you got to again, you know, that that’s that goes back to, you know, you know, assess your situation. You know, pretrip these things thoroughly. I’ve seen cats come in and man, they grab their truck and roll.

19:10 We come in at the same time in the gate and even two, three-way, don’t matter, four-way. And I’m talking about the time that’s really needed to spend trying to pre-trip your truck. Man, these dudes is leaving in five or 10 minutes.

19:25 No. No.

19:26 Like I know you at pre-trip. No, you not thoroughly. You did.

19:29 Yeah.

19:30 You know, cuz I’m like, come on, man. You playing with your life. Last thing you want to do is get out here and even if you don’t get hurt, a truck fall off and it hurt somebody else—

19:42 Bro. Exactly.

19:43 We can do our part by making sure everything is secure and everything is in its place. These even if these axles is not secured down, man, each one of these axles and that’s the lighter ones and—

19:55 45 lbs.

19:56 Yeah. If they fly off in transit, what—

19:58 Oh man—

19:58 What happens there? You know—

20:00 Oh man, shoot. You flew around and you talking about a dog on axle going in somebody’s windshield—

20:05 Right?

20:06 Whatever speed that you running, that’s life and death for somebody else.

20:10 That’s true. Because you could take the extra 10 minutes to per to properly thoroughly pre-trip your load and make sure your load—

20:21 Is safe.

20:21 Yeah, that’s because—

20:23 That’s a excellent point. I mean, you got you’ve got to because like you said, it’s about the safety of not just you, you know, and so that’s such a good point and for those that are listening, you know, think about all that mindset and the weight that goes on the truckers. So when you pass one on the road and you see these guys, think about the work that was put in. Not to just drive. There’s so much more that goes into it. So I hope everybody that’s listening that have seen one of these thinks about that. Well, Germaine, I want to move on a little bit. I want to talk about a couple other things. So what I guess for me, what inspires you to keep going? You’ve done this a long time. That’s awesome. But what inspires you to keep going, keep being in the decking world, in the driveaway world?

21:11 My family, man. My family. I’m big on family. My family inspires me, man. Again, when you get the freedom to work when you want to work, you know, make what you need to make. You know, I tell people all the time, I ain’t trying to be rich. I just want to be comfortable.

21:29 Yeah.

21:30 You know, I want to be able to take care of my family and go sit down. And that’s what keeps me going in this the freedom to maneuver however I need to maneuver and really having a balanced time between family and work. You know, I’ve ran horn at times where, you know, I’ve had a goal in mind that I’m trying to reach financially. And then I have my times a lot of times where, you know, I want to take off.

21:56 Yeah.

21:57 To sit down and you know, let my body recuperate.

22:01 And you know how much you need to run to let that happen at this point, right? Is that right?

22:07 Yeah. Yes. You know, and that’s what keeps me going. The fact that I know that I’m not on the company side and I don’t have to be at work every day.

22:17 Let’s talk about that then. So, when I guess when people think of truck drivers, they think they’re on the road all the time, all day, every day. They never have any family time. Tell for people that that that maybe are in driveaway or maybe they’re not in driveaway. For you, what does that balance look like specifically for Germaine? How much time do you get at home versus on the road?

22:39 Man, I’m at home every weekend. I’m at home every weekend.

22:43 That’s great.

22:43 I will. First of all, like I just said, I’m a pastor, so I have to be at home on the weekend, right? Pastor my church—

22:50 Right? But and I usually, you know, because of where I live at and where the yard is here in San Antonio, I go past home all the time. So, usually in time I pick up a loan and I’m not under a certain time constraint, I just stop by the house for the night.

23:07 Yeah. That we sleep in your own bed.

23:10 Why would it be crazy if you didn’t? And so, you know, like I said, I try to spend as much time as I can with home as well as work—

23:19 Trying to balance it because, you know, you out here running and working hard and you forgetting about your home is not good either.

23:26 Yeah.

23:27 Yeah.

23:27 You know, so you got to make sure that you got to and above all left, go rest. I it’s important for us to go rest period because we spend so much time behind the wheel. That stuff gets tiresome.

23:42 Oh yeah. Quick.

23:43 You’re looking at the dog on W the road for 11 to 14 hours at a time, for days at a time. That stuff gets tiresome. You got to go and rest your body, rest your mind because we deal with mental, we deal with mental and physical tiredness out here because you got some people that will work on their own trucks if something go wrong or we undeck. So you having to use you different types of strengths. So it’s important to go spend your time with your family.

24:15 Yeah.

24:16 Get relax get your mind right, you know.

24:19 Yeah. Yeah.

24:21 Well, what about the money side? So you get to be, you know, you’re home on the weekends and you know, for me to hear that, that’s awesome. And I and I’ve tal you know, a lot of our guys are and I love the fact that we can—

24:32 You know, they we can plan our trips, you know, to where they and I know it doesn’t get to happen for everybody. And I know people don’t do it. You know, some guys are just—

24:39 You know, they’re gonna say, “All right, I’m gonna be on the road for three months.” And they choose to do that and some, you know, that that’s up to them.

24:45 But what about, you know, the monetary side of it? So you, you know, when you think about the money that you’re making and you think about say, “Hey, you know, Germaine, you know, I want to live comfortable.” Are you able to do that? And if you are, what are some of the things that that you have to do as a contractor to make sure that happens?

25:02 Make sure I pay two good loads a week. Too good low period because we got so many lows over here on this side. You know, we’ve been doing a lot of short ones.

25:11 Yeah.

25:12 So, it’s easy for me to take a long one in the beginning of the week, take a short one towards the end of the week and then grab me another one on my way home. I mean, on my way to deliver it, go home for the weekend. You can’t deliver on the weekends anyway, right? Most places.

25:27 Yeah, that’s a good plan. So, you’re getting—

25:29 So, yeah, I see what I like that. Yeah.

25:31 Yeah. You know, so again, I live off of 35, which you know, I live six hours from San Antonio. So me going north because anything that we deliver majority time is either go north cuz we down here by the border. So—

25:45 Yeah—

25:46 I go home.

25:47 Not much else where to go.

25:48 Yeah. You know, I go home and you know, rest my nerves and usually in that and I’m just gonna give you the number. I usually didn’t clear anywhere between two to $3,000 a week. That’s great. And that’s in your pocket, right? That’s in your pocket.

26:03 Yeah. That’s in my pocket. Yeah. Yeah. So, the money is there. You know, if somebody, you know, people tell me that the money ain’t there, I’m going laugh at him because I don’t know what you’ve been doing cuz I didn’t made money.

26:14 Yeah. And so when we think about that, people that are listening, put that in perspective. He’s got it planned to where now he said that’s in his pocket. So, we’re talking six figures here, folks. And he’s at home. So, you know, when he wants to go home, he goes home. Now, if you’re thinking about getting in the driveaway and you’re thinking about— And you it’s you might not get right off the bat to have a schedule like his cuz you’re going to have to learn. It’s going to take some time and you’re going to have to figure out what works for you. But just know that, you know, Germaine’s figured it out and he’s comfortable and he’s putting that in his pocket. So, that’s what we like to hear. What about saving money on the road? A lot of guys that we talked to, they have a hard time budgeting. Was it tough for you to figure that out early on or were you just always kind of in that mindset like how—

27:01 No, it was tough. It was tough first off because when I first got into it, I was like, “Oh, shoot. Well, I’m making money.”

27:08 Yeah.

27:08 And it’s coming in quick.

27:10 Yeah. And it’s coming. Yeah. Real quick. So, I’m like, “Well, I go I do this and I can go do that.” So, I did it until I had to get the mindset like, “Look, man. I’m not getting myself nowhere. I’m out here and having to be out here more and more because I’m not saving.” And the thing is, what is your goal? People get out here and trucking and don’t have any goals in mind. I just want to get out here and be an open road. Just sightsee.

27:35 Yeah.

27:36 I’m sorry, man.

27:37 No, no, no. It’s okay. I thought I’m over here down here at the yard in San Antonio. I was talking to the gentleman that was to David. That’s what I’m talking.

27:44 Oh, tell Dave I said hi.

27:48 Just—

27:48 Tell him we’re podcasting. Don’t talk to my guy.

27:51 Justin said what’s up, man. Look, but no, you know, you got to have a goal in mind, man. You got to have something that you trying to work. I’m trying to work to, you know, buy my house. So, my wife does, you know, I take the I’m I was raised old school. You know, I go to work and I bring the money home.

28:09 Yeah. Yeah.

28:10 That’s how I was raised. So, you know, my wife, she does all of the paying bills, saving, tell me what we need for the next week, and— Okay.

28:21 Yeah. You know—

28:22 You know what you got to do.

28:24 Yeah. You know, I know my part, you know, and so saving is not hard, but it’s a mindset. It’s a frame of mind. You know, you got some that want to get out here and run hard, and then you got and play hard just as much as they make. And then you got some that have a goal in mind and understand that you can get lost in making this real good money and not taking care of yourself.

28:48 And then you have— Yeah. You have nothing to show for it, you know, cuz—

28:52 You know it’s and it’s easy, you know, it’s easy espec, you know, young start, you know, they’re starting to get in the decking world, they’re young, see this money coming in, you know, you can get careless and reckless. I mean, sometimes the more you got, the more you spend.

29:07 Yes. You don’t want to have to work all your life. I think that we forget when we out here making this money. My goal is not to be out here till I die.

29:17 Yeah. My goal is to make enough money to where when it’s time to retire, I’m good. I go retire. I got a nice little nest egg set up for me and I’m going to go and relax and chill with my family—

29:31 You know. So, it’s important again to make sure money is, you know, saved as much as possible. So, it’s hard, but it’s easy.

29:40 Yeah. Well, yeah. And it sounds like you had to learn, you know. I mean, not like anything, you know, you had to learn. And I think, you know, we could all be guilty of that. And you know, I personally had to learn some things the hard way, right? Right after I you know, got into the workforce and, you know, credit and you know that you know, you get through school and you think you know, you think you know everything and you know you didn’t know they didn’t teach you about credit. They didn’t teach you about all that.

30:05 And that’s what I’m dealing with now.

30:07 So, you know, I have to had to learn that the hard way. And now I try to teach others, you know, to spread the wealth because I did have to learn the hard way. So So you’re at the yard. I heard you talk to Dave. Everybody knows Dave that’s listening if they listen to the Six-Figure Trucker because I had Dave on season one. He was out there, you know, working on a, you know, working on a light strap. So you’re at the yard. Tell what’s it like there right now? How many— There’s a bunch of trucks on the yard, right—

30:33 Man? Trucks on top of truck there.

30:36 Soft picture. So business is good, right? Yes—

30:41 But it came out of nowhere. I mean, it got, you know, let’s talk about that for a second. I mean, it’s people are I know people in the game are wondering what’s going on, you know, and you know, think we can all say we know what’s going on, but you know, I did not, you know, when the bottom fell out, it fell out hard.

30:59 Yeah. Yeah. When CO hit it.

31:03 Yeah. But you know things are getting back and I think you know I don’t have any insider info but based on what I’m hearing and seeing I think there’s going to be some ups and downs for the rest of the year. I think like any other industry but I think you know I like what I like what’s happening you know with the trucks coming out of Mexico. I like where we’re at with the yard and you know folks if you if you’re looking to move trucks you know they’re there right now. So let us know—

31:31 Definitely. I’m a trainer over here. I’m a train over here. You know, a lot of times it’s hard to match your time with another person’s time where—

31:41 You know, get to the yard together so you can get them trained because you need more people to that’s willing to do this. And not a lot of people know about it. So for me, I get a lot of guys like last night after I flew in went to the hotel and there’s a gas station in front of me. So I met her on the phone talking to my wife and dude see me with my Bluetooth. Are you a tractor?

32:06 Yeah. Yeah.

32:06 What do you do?

32:07 He saw the sign.

32:08 Yeah. You know, and so I gave him the information. Oh man, I want to get into that. I’ve seen that. Okay.

32:16 Well, here’s the information. And so, you know, we need more guys out here that’s willing to get out here and not only make this money, but do the work.

32:25 Yeah. And no, I agree that that and that’s one reason why we’re doing this is to spread the word, you know, what we’re doing. You know, it’s niche and you know, it’s not for everybody, but it’s cool. It’s different. You know, we’re our freight is our trucks. Our trucks are our freight, you know. So, that’s it’s just sometimes when I’m telling people that like we were in Dallas a couple years ago at the Great American Trucking Show and man, there’s truckers that are all, you know, from all over. It’s big. I don’t know if you ever been, but it’s huge—

32:54 Huge trucker show and we, you know, I’m talking to truckers and I’ve got slideshows and—

33:00 You know, we were recruiting, you know, and guys are like, been in trucking for years and what? I don’t understand. You know, it’s like crazy to some of these folks who have been trucking for so long. So, it’s cool. It’s crazy to see how, you know, the there’s not a lot of knowledge of what we do that’s out there. There’s just not. So, what do you do when you get to the yard and you got to do what you do? What do you have to go through right now to get ready to leave?

33:25 Pretty much tightening everything down. Make sure my lights is good, make sure my airlines is good, you know, and trying to make sure that before I get this thing on the road, man, it’s legal. That is my routine every week. I It usually take me about an hour of doing everything, getting myself straight to get in this truck and start driving. It usually takes me about an hour to get everything done from front to back.

33:54 Yeah.

33:54 From my lights to, you know, even though these brand new trucks, you got to check the hood.

33:59 Yeah. Adam, you know, the coolant, you got to check on that cuz, you know, the these compan these manufacturers, you know, they tend to make sure everything is generally taken care of. Human error.

34:11 Yeah, they’re human. Yeah, that’s a good point. Human. Yeah—

34:14 That’s a good point. And I think it’d be crazy for folks to assume that it’s going to be perfect every time. And think about your life. So, and that that brings me back. That’s a good point. To run the way you want to run. You got to make sure that you can control everything that you can control because if somebody else made a mistake and you didn’t catch it, that’s going to set you back.

34:34 Yep.

34:35 That’s going to take money out of your pocket, right?

34:37 You sound great.

34:38 Yeah. I love that. So—

34:41 I make sure everything is done.

34:42 So, that that hour is important because that hour could save you a lot of hours in the future if you’re on the side of the road in the middle of the night and that truck’s smoking.

34:52 Yeah, definitely. Cuz I’m sure you’ve been there.

34:55 Yep.

34:55 I have been there. You know, now some of the internal stuff ain’t nothing you can do about it.

35:01 Yeah.

35:02 No, there’s something wrong with the engine. You won’t know that by trying to pre-trip it.

35:05 No.

35:06 You know, but what you can keep from happening is things that exit out human driver error.

35:14 Yeah. Yeah.

35:15 And getting in the routine of doing the same thing. See, I have a routine of everything that I do. Every time I come down here with a deck load, I have a routine. I do a step-by-step checklist in my mind of everything I do from the time I get here to the time I leave out that gate. I have a routine of what go you know what I got to do because I the minute that you get out of your routine is the minute mistakes happen—

35:41 You know. And now I’m taking extra time because I’m talking to y’all. So, of course, I’m remembering my mind, my routine. Plus—

35:49 Plus— Yeah. You’re multitasking, right?

35:52 Hell. Yeah. So, you know, it’s even more important because, you know, a lot of times we get distracted and you know, when you get distracted, you know, that’s when mistakes happen as well. So, you know, you got to take that extra time to make sure that your load is pre-trip. You know, I got another guy that pull up behind me. I’m interested to see how long he take to pre-trip his load.

36:14 Yeah. But I’m getting ready to leave, so I’m not gonna find out. But—

36:20 You trying to get on the road?

36:21 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, again, this is one of these short loads.

36:25 Yeah.

36:26 You know, I’m going to run off the road to Oklahoma City and get on back here tomorrow. You know, I know what it takes to take care of my home.

36:36 Well, I got a couple more questions. I know you got to I know you got to get on the road. I got a couple more things—

36:41 Here. One thing, you know, that that we talk about is, you know, we talked early on about the contract and the company and what’s the difference. You know, when we talk about money, you know, specifically Norton, and I’m sure you’ve ran with other carriers. What are some of the things you like about what Norton is doing in terms of pay, app, technology? You know, what are some of the things that you appreciate as a driver?

37:05 I appreciate that they try to understand about the drivers. They try to take care of as much as possible as far as you know finances you know and just knowing that hey we need a break.

37:20 Yeah.

37:20 You know and knowing that we are human you know I appreciate what Norton does because they don’t put crazy time restraints on us constraints should I say as far as getting these loads delivered. Now of course we have a time limit but there’s a reasonable time.

37:38 Sure. You know, it ain’t like, you know, no 1500 mile trip and we want you there tomorrow.

37:44 Yeah. It’s not going to work.

37:45 That ain’t happening.

37:47 That ain’t gonna work.

37:48 So, you know, they taking they try to take in mind of, hey, we got to give these guys ample enough time because we have to stop where truckers don’t have to stop.

38:00 That’s right. That’s right.

38:02 You know, we got, you know, legally, you supposed to stop every 3 hours or 150 miles, whichever one comes first. Yeah.

38:09 To—

38:10 Do loan securement.

38:11 Yeah. You got to inspect.

38:13 Yeah. You know, and Norton understands that. So they don’t put real heavy time constraints on you. And plus, they understand the fact that, hey, I know y’all get tired and you get sick. Let us know. Communicate.

38:29 Yeah.

38:30 So, you know, they’re real big on communication. And I appreciate that. I really do appreciate that because nor they try to help you as much as possible, you know, as much as that they can. I’m going say that.

38:44 Yeah. Yeah.

38:45 You know, because some things might be out of their control that they can’t do nothing about. So, you know, they but they do take an effect, you know, in account that, hey, you know, I understand that, you know, you’re human and you’re tired and you’re sick, you know, so let’s see what we can get situated to make sure, you know, that load gets there safely and you still able to, you know, try to get a little rest and get well enough to where you can do it.

39:08 Yeah. Yeah.

39:09 So, I appreciate Norton for that—

39:11 Man. That’s great to hear. And that’s absolutely right. I mean, our founder was our first driver. So, that’s how we started. And that he’s, you know, he’s still here in the office. His presence is known. And he, you know, if there’s anybody that I’ve ever worked for in my life, you know, that I know appreciates the drivers, it’s him. And he’s cuz that’s how he started, you know. He’s been there and he still delivers and picks up loads for us today, you know, when we need. Okay. And so it’s, you know, he sends that message to our team, you know, daily and I feel like our team does a good job in remembering that and I think that comes from the top down. So, you know, you ever get a chance to meet him, love to introduce you to them. But yeah, I mean, that’s the philosophy that we have. We got to understand what our drivers are going through. We got to take care of our folks out there and I feel like, you know, we’re able to do that. And that, you know, that’s why we’ve got a lot of good folks working for us. I got one more question for you. But hey, I want this just popped in my head. When you talk to Mo again, tell him I want to have him on here, too.

40:15 Good luck.

40:16 He won’t do it, will he?

40:18 Good luck.

40:21 Good luck on that.

40:22 I know. I know. Tell him I said that though when you talk to him.

40:25 I will tell him.

40:26 I’ll probably talk to him today because we talk about every day.

40:28 All right. Tell him.

40:30 I’ll tell him. But I’m telling you, good luck. I know. He’s like the night rider, you know.

40:37 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mo is—

40:40 Again and see I attribute a lot of my success, especially over here on this side and even in the driveaway to Mo when I first started with Active and even over here, he kind of took me under his wing.

40:56 Yeah.

40:57 You know, and he taught me a lot of the things that the companies won’t teach. Yeah, that’s important, isn’t it?

41:05 You know, yes, it is, you know, especially how to make your money, you know.

41:08 Yeah.

41:09 You know, he taught me how to do that, you know. He helped me to understand that, hey, man, it’s a whole lot more going on behind the scenes than what’s being said.

41:19 Yeah.

41:21 And so I was like, “Oh, okay, cool.” And so I appreciate him all day long, man. You know, I consider him as a big brother.

41:28 Yeah. You know, because he always know, he’s always even to this day still look out for him.

41:33 And that’s cool to hear and it’s good to have mentors out there and like and that’s, you know, one of the things that we want to try to do with the show is, you know, as independent contractors, we want to spread the word out like, hey, these guys out here are making money. Here’s how they do it. You know, cuz like you said, you know, you your dispatcher is going to try to do what’s right for you in terms of load planning, but your dispatcher don’t know how to control, you know, everything outside of that. So, let’s hear it from the guys themselves of, hey, this is how I make money. This is how I’m successful. These are the things that I do. That’s cool for other people to hear. I think, you know—

42:07 Yeah—

42:11 I’ve got one more question for you. This is kind of something that I always like to share.

42:14 You know, I’m a foodie. I say this in a lot of my podcasts. When you think about traveling, being, you know, across the road everywhere you’ve been, is there one place, maybe two places that stick out that you’d like to share? Your favorite place to stop in? Maybe it’s in your hometown. Maybe it’s in Texas. Anywhere, somewhere you’d like to share that you’ve enjoyed. It was a good meal. It’s one of your favorite places to stop in when you get a chance to.

42:38 Oh man, just a place off of 20 here in Texas. I can’t I think it’s mine more for like 187 or 198 somewhere around the higher 100s. Was it 30? No, it’s 20. And it’s I think it’s 57 somewhere around it. But it’s a barbecue place.

42:58 Okay. Okay.

43:00 Little barbecue. They It’s a truck stop, but they, you know, cook and sell barbecue out of there, man. Anytime. So, you know, I go by there, I always got to stop. All right.

43:11 Always got to stop—

43:12 Man. I love to hear that. Pulled pork. They do ribs. They do it all—

43:15 Man. They do it all. Pulled pork, ribs, chicken, brisket.

43:20 Okay—

43:20 Man. When I tell you that they do everything, what’s that old school saying? Food so good make you want to slap your mouth.

43:28 Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend it, but—

43:30 But yeah, it’s that good. It’s that good. Oh, man. That’s great. I love it. If you’re hearing, listen to him. Stop by if you’re in the chance. If you’re in Texas, give it a try. It’s always good to hear where the good spots are out there, and sometimes they’re hidden gems. You never know what you’re going to find.

43:45 Yeah.

43:46 Germaine, man, is it was great to have you on the show. I enjoyed our conversation. I know you’re at the yard doing your pre-trip. You’re getting ready to leave. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the truckers out there that may be listening? Anything at all that that’s coming from Germaine?

44:03 Have fun and get your money. Be safe.

44:06 I love it. Have fun. Get your money. Be safe. You heard it from the man himself, Germaine. Germaine, it was a pleasure, man. I appreciate you having appreciate you being on the show today.

44:16 Yes, sir.

44:21 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.